Now It's Done
by shake-n-shiver
Summary: Jackie says it's for the best. A Glimpses story.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Now It's Done (1/3)  
**Author: **JennyLD  
**Spoilers: **None  
**Characters/Pairings: **Ten/Rose, Jackie, other character  
**Prompt: **Holding onto the phone, Holding onto this glass, Holding onto the memory of what didn't last, Waiting for better words, they'll never come, So dry your eyes, it's better, Now it's done -- Straylight Run, Now It's Done  
**Author's Note: **Prompt and beta by Sinecure

* * *

Rubbing her thumb over the smooth surface of the object she clutched in her hand, Rose only half-paid attention to the man in front of her. Only half-listened to his practiced speech. The words that slipped from his mouth, words he'd no doubt spoken countless times before, meant nothing to her.

Not now. Not here.

Hands buried deep in soft, satiny pockets--disrespectful for sure, considering the situation, but she didn't care--she gently caressed familiar, unknown patterns on the small button, wanting nothing more than to just push down on it with all her might. But knowing it wouldn't make one bit of difference.

* * *

Fidgeting restlessly in her seat, Rose fisted her hands around her drink. She could feel the fragile glass splintering in her grasp, but she welcomed the pain it would bring; if she weren't so numb she could actually feel it.

Someone was speaking again, to her, to the people around her. Their carefully planned words flitted across her hearing, words of hope and love and future. But the words were empty to her and she wondered, not for the first time, if life itself had lost all meaning.

* * *

Staring out on a night sky that reminded her, like everything else these days, of another time, another place, Rose finally let her tears fall. Mascara tracks slipping down her cheeks, she opened her hand, letting what she'd clung to so dearly for the last few hours fall to the ground.

The summer breeze was warm, soothing, but she shivered nonetheless.

"It was a lovely ceremony."

Rose nodded her head once, not wanting her mum to hear her crying. Not wanting her to get the wrong idea and think she was shedding tears of happiness.

Not that it'd make a difference; Jackie Tyler knew her daughter better than that.

"He's a good man," she insisted, crossing the balcony quickly to rest a comforting hand on Rose's shoulder. "He may not be the Doctor, but he loves you just the same."

Rose glanced down at her right hand and the ring wrapped around her finger. It was perfect. Beautiful. Everything every little girl ever dreamed of.

It made her sick to her stomach.

She didn't want it, didn't want this. Not if having any of it meant she couldn't have the man she loved.

* * *

Their voices slowly faded away, disappearing completely when the door shut firmly behind them, muffling even the loud music and voices coming from inside.

Kneeling down in the moist grass, the Doctor reached out, wrapping his hand around the phone Rose had dropped. Flipping it over, he stared at the screen, at the string of familiar numbers and the picture of the TARDIS circling through space.

Slipping the phone in his pocket, he took one last, quick glance up at the balcony, then slowly walked away, feeling like his hearts were shattering.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Now It's Done (2/3)  
**Author: **JennyLD  
**Spoilers: **Doomsday  
**Characters/Pairings: **Ten/Rose, Jackie, Other character  
**Prompt: **_It's me and the moon she says, And I've got no trouble with that, but I am a butterfly, but you wouldn't let me die, It's me and the moon she says -- Something Corporate, Me and the Moon_  
**Author's Note:** Beta by Sinecure

_

* * *

  
_

"Come to bed with me." His voice was calm, neutral. He didn't beg, he didn't plead. Just remained as understanding and patient as ever.

She couldn't bear to look at him, couldn't bring herself to look into his eyes and not see the hurt that should've been there. He never got angry with her, never lost his cool, never screamed and yelled at how unfair she was being to him. To them.

A hand landed gently on her shoulder. "Rose." He said her name like a prayer and she shuddered in disgust at herself for marrying him, for making a promise that she couldn't keep.

It'd been three months now, three months since their vows were said in front of family and friends, and still she couldn't bring herself to share a bed with him. It wasn't that she didn't love him. She did. Just not in the way he wanted. Not in the way he loved her.

He was a good man, just like her mum had said. And he deserved better than Rose could give him.

* * *

"We don't have to do anything you don't want to," he whispered, brushing her hair back from her face. "I lost someone too and I..." he swallowed hard before continuing, "sometimes I feel like I'm betraying her too."

It wasn't the same though, she thought to herself, burying her face in her pillow. He'd lost his love in a car accident, had her ripped from his arms just days after they'd married.

He'd lost the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Rose had merely misplaced hers.

* * *

Six months later and he was gone.

Rose didn't blame him, couldn't get angry about the decision. It was a long time coming. They barely spoke to each other anymore, only made love the one time, and afterward, she'd run from the room and cried.

He'd stuck around far longer than she expected, far longer than she deserved.

Removing her wedding ring, Rose placed it next to the photo of them laughing on her mum's couch, just weeks before he'd proposed and things had got complicated. There were other pictures, other memories carefully encased in frames, spread throughout their flat. But none of them meant anything to her.

Without a backward glance, Rose walked out the door, leaving their life behind.


End file.
